


Sunlight Without Dark

by Arcanista



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Cats In Laps, Everyone Involved Has Had A Rough Time And Needs Some Cuddles And They Get Some, F/M, Gen, Melancholy fluff, Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Patch 3.4, Sad People Being Cozy Together, Tea, Unukalhai is a Good Boy and I Will Die Upon This Hill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21933955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcanista/pseuds/Arcanista
Summary: Tensions are a little high after dealing with the dread Goddess Sophia, that too hot on the heels of Minfilia's rescue of the strange Warriors of Darkness. Unukalhai has definitely overstepped, but the Warrior of Light can't bring herself to be mad at him...
Relationships: Elidibus & Unukalhai (Final Fantasy XIV), Elidibus & Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Elidibus/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Kudos: 27





	Sunlight Without Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TenkeyLess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenkeyLess/gifts).



> Secret Santa gift for the wonderful TenkeyLess at the [coziest writing Discord](https://discord.gg/RDnJw2Q) around. If you're even a little bit curious, go ahead and click and we will LOVE and SUPPORT the h*ck out of you and bombard you with all the smut you could ever want to read (assuming you consent to being bombarded because if you dont you wont be)

Q'Lhira waits for the rest of the Scions to filter out of the solar, until she's all alone with Unukalhai. The boy looks up at her, mask keeping her from being able to read a thing on his face.

"Once again, I apologize," says Unukalhai, his voice slightly muffled. "I merely--"

"Don't apologize," says Q'Lhira, reminded of just how young he seems to be. Is? Is he that young? "You meant well. I... I appreciate that you wanted to spare me that. But I need to know if someone's--" she takes a deep breath, and forces the words out, "-- committing that many murders on my behalf. Y'Shtola's right. If that sort of thing is going to be done, I _can't_ be considered above that. I need to at least know."

Unukalhai droops a little bit, and nods. "You're right," he says, and draws in a breath as if to continue, but stops.

He definitely seems very young now, whatever his actual age is. Q'Lhira closes the gap between them and pulls him close in a tight hug. "Are _you_ going to be okay? It's all right if you're not. What you did was..."

He's stiff, surprised, but after a few moments yields to the hug, his arms coming up around her. "It was necessary," he says softly. "And they felt no pain. Their sleep was simply... made to last forever." Unukalhai's masked forehead rests against her.

"Necessary doesn't mean easy," she says, patting his hooded head. Her tail flicks forward, wrapping around the back of his legs lightly. "And you don't have to be alone, okay? That's the worst part of any sort of hard decision, trying to do it all on your own." She releases him and steps back, making a smile down at him.

Unukalhai nods thoughtfully up at her, then glances away suddenly. He curls his fingers up in his robe briefly, then relaxes them. "Would you-- no. This is not a thing that I should ask."

But this of course only piques Q'Lhira's curiosity. "What is it? The worst is that I can say no, right?"

"Perhaps," says Unukalhai, then he sighs, his shoulders sagging deeply. "It is not for myself. My master, too-- he is alone, or near to it. And I know his role burdens him terribly. But I cannot ask you to..."

Q'Lhira's ears perk forward, then go flat as she considers what precisely the boy is saying. She looks him. At his plain white robes. At the full-face mask. And she voices a thing that had been lingering in her mind ever since Urianger introduced Unukalhai to her. "Your master is an Ascian, isn't he?"

He makes no attempt to evade the question. "Yes."

"The... Emissary? Elidibus?"

"Yes."

Her ears stay flat, and she feels her tail bristle. But she tries to be as reasonable as possible as she says, "We have met. He was polite enough, for someone asking me to fight for his own curiosity. Still, I'd be willing to talk to him. But aren't I the cause of a lot of his burdens lately? Would he even want to see _me_?"

Unukalhai shuffles his feet. "I can but ask him. Would... would you object if I did?"

Slowly, Q'Lhira's tail relaxes as she considers the notion. Maybe... maybe it would be all right. The notion seems unwise, but, well, clearly _Urianger_ had thought associating with him was safe enough. "Well... all right, go ahead."

"Thank you," says Unukalhai with such a relief in this voice that Q'Lhira can only wonder what it is she's getting herself into.

* * *

She can't help but be nervous, sitting in the solar alone and waiting. Unukalhai's left to go sort through some books with Krile-- Q'Lhira wonders that he didn't stay, but he doesn't need to be here. It's good that he's making friends, too. Her tail swishes of its own accord; she preemptively pours herself a cup of tea to keep her hands busy.

Nearby, she hears the sound of a politely cleared throat. She puts the cup of tea down and stands abruptly, ears twitching. Robed in white, masked in red-- yes. That is absolutely, completely, definitely the Ascian, smiling politely. "Ah. Hello," she says, willing her ears to stay steady. "Please, um, have a seat. Would you like a cup of tea? Or coffee. I could get coffee, too."

"Good afternoon," says Elidibus, moving toward the seat opposite Q'Lhira. He sits after a moment's pause. "There's no need. Simply to know that you are indulging the boy's concerns is refreshing enough."

Q'Lhira returns to her seat, picking up the teacup and clutching it tightly. She seizes on the opening he's provided. "I'm glad you were willing. Unukalhai has a good heart."

Elidibus nods to her. "In that, at least, we are in unalloyed agreement. It pleases me to know that he has he has found a place where he might thrive."

Despite herself, her ears perk forward. "This is going to be rude, and I'm sorry, but why? What does it matter to you if he's somewhere good for him?"

A soft chuckle. "You're quite right. It is." The Ascian rubs his hand over the armrest of his chair, the claws on his gloves _tick-tick-tick_ ing lightly against the exposed wood. "Doubt me if you must, but I desire nothing other than to see this world and all within it thrive. I wish only the best for him."

She sighs and puts down her teacup. "Thrive..." she says, and sighs. "Are Calamities thriving? So many people..." She regrets it immediately; she didn't agree to this to have an argument.

"If there were a way to make you understand..." Elidibus says, shaking his head. "I suspect my answer will only distress you further, and I would gain nothing from that. Know simply that I seek to save lives, not destroy them. I have known too much loss to take joy in any person's suffering."

Q'Lhira closes her eyes. "I do... understand that, at least," she says. Isn't that why they're both here, together, right now? Because Elidibus is almost alone. She can feel for that much. She does. Whatever this man is, whatever his unfathomable reasons for his deeds are...

He came here, despite her being the unrepentant cause of such loss. Q'Lhira rises from her seat, and moves to stand in front of him. He looks up at her, cocking his head with some curiosity-- and his head leans back in surprise as she places herself lightly upon his lap, tail curling up and around her waist. "Well, you're here right now," she says. "There's no suffering here, and no one needs to be by themself right now."

The sound that Elidibus makes is a soft, short, "Ah." He doesn't drag it out, just lets it drift on the air like dandelion fluff. "You're kinder than I anticipated. That's quite the risk to take." But he shifts, and lets an arm loosely settle around her back.

"We're both taking a risk, sitting here and chatting, aren't we?" says Q'Lhira. "I don't see how I'm losing anything by being kind. Even if we're enemies, we're not here _as_ enemies. Anyway, you know where I live and obviously you can come here whenever you want. If you wanted me dead, I'd _be_ dead. I have to sleep sometime, right?"

"Kind _and_ pragmatic," says Elidibus, tilting his head toward her. "What an unusual combination." He smiles, just a little bit.

"You've got to be unusual to stay sane," says Q'Lhira. "I'm not going to ask you any questions or anything at all. We can just, you know, sit here together."

It's nice, actually. The fire nearby is warm, and since taking up adventuring Q'Lhira has found her in countless positions less comfortable than an Ascian's lap, though this might well be the strangest. The robes are softer than they look, with a nice thick weave.

"Would that it were not unusual to hold oneself in balance so," says Elidibus softly, the distant voice of someone talking to himself.

"The goddess was one of equilibrium," says Q'Lhira in that same musing way. "But she seemed so cruel all the same..."

Almost absent-mindedly, Elidibus shifts her, that casual arm finding its way more comfortably around her. "Equilibrium is cruel by nature. Or rather, it exists regardless of cruelty. We are all comprised of joys and pains, and to dwell solely on one leaves you unable to endure the other. No existence is all one thing, and it leads only to doom to seek that it be so."

"Maybe so," says Q'Lhira. She lets out a breath slowly, her ears relaxing forward. "You're not what I expected, either."

He smiles again. "I imagine not. Perhaps if we should meet like this again, I will accept your offer of tea."

Q'Lhira rests her head on his shoulder, her tail curling more warmly around herself. "That might be nice," she says. "Balance, right? It's no good if all we do is fight."

So together they sit, in that one chair, listening to the crackling of the fire.


End file.
